Playing surfaces



May 2, 1933. l.. H. sTEwARD 1,906,494

` PLAYING SURFACES Y Filed Oct. 9, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l ne aw-*f 2Sheets-Sheet 2 May 2, 1933- L. H. sTEwARD PLAYING SURFACES Filed Oct. 9,1950 lwowtoz www www5

Patented May 2, 1933 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEWIS H. STEWARiD, FCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN & FELT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, ACORPORATION' OF DELAWARE PLAYING SREACES Y Application meaoctober l9, 1930. serial-No.. 487,339.

The invention relates to a new method for forming felt playing surfaces.

The great popularity which the playing of golf in restricted areas hasattained has created the need for playing surfaces having certain specicproperties. The surface must simulate a closely clipped lawn surface inthe following respects: The surface must be uniform and resilient andpleasant lo under foot and at the same time must provide a rm and securefooting or stance. The surface must stand exposure to the weatherwithout detrimental results. The surface should support a standardgolfball 5 so that it will roll with `a certain restricted freedom. Thisrestricted freedom isknown as the retard of the surface for the rollingball.

Besides these properties, simulatingr a V closely clipped lawn, thesurface must, in

addition, if it is to be a commercial success, havethe followingcharacteristics; The surface mustrbe free draining; must dry rapidly;and Inust regain its normal properties quickly after exposure to rain.The surface must be extremely durable for the game being played in arestricted area subjects the surface to intensive wear.

Efforts to meet the requirements for such a surface have been numerous.Originally golf on a miniature scale, such as clock golf, was playedupon lawn surfaces. The popularity of the game thus played was limited,partly because of the expense of maintaining the lawn surface in anattractive condition and partly because this game included none, of therecently conceived devices which have heightened the attractiveness andinterest for golf played in restricted areas. With the introduction ofthese devices for increasing interest the necessity for moresatisfactory surfaces was at once recognized.

Pavements of sand and gravel fail to meet the requirements. The shiftingof the surface layers of the sand andV gravel be- A i neath the playersfeet gives to the player a sense of insecurity. If 'the surface is madefirmer by the introduction of clay and more gravel the surface becomesharsh and causes the ball to travel erratically and wit-hout thenecessary retard. These surfaces lack resilience and, in addition to theunpleasant effect upon the player, are dirty and hard to keep in repair.

Concrete and asphalt surfaces fail to meet the vrequirements of the gamebecause of their extreme hardness and, of course, because of the almosttotal lack of retardoffered by such surfaces.

Woven mats with high cut nap, made of cocoa fiber, etc., and similar. towhat iscommonly called a door mat, are impractical due tothe. peculiardancing-rolling action ofthe ball on such mats. The surface of such matsis unyielding with respect to the weight. of aV standard golf ball. Themats are expensive and limited as to size.

The requirements for such surfaces have been' met Vin a measure bymatted beds of feathers, vegetable. fibers, etc. The most widely used ofsuch beds of material are those formed of a'layer of cotton seed hulls.The hulls with a small amount of the linters still clinging are packedinto a shallow fra-me, whose .top is flush withthe surface of thesurrounding ground. This surface, although practical, is not ideal foralthough resilient the surfacefseems to ,be lifeless and of anuncomfortable, soft deadness. Also, the surface is somewhat clinging andis 4lifted by the players feet. The material has no tensile strengthwhatsoever and scuffs up and requires constant attention and repair. Theresistance offered to the rolling of the ball is excessive andexaggerates the retarding effect of a closely clipped lawn surface. Thecotton seed hull lmat also is decidedly hygroscopic, shrinking andswellingl as thepmoisture content changes. q After a heavy rain the matis so swollen that playing is impossible until the mat has been packedand rolled. Further, the nature of the cotton seed hull with the fibreclinging is such that dirt is easily caught in the multitude of soft,fluffy fibers and cleaning of the mat is almost impossible and the matsoon takes on a dirty, objectionable color.

Some have sought to solve the problem of providing a satisfactorysurface by using felt. However, -the felts employed have been treated togive the requisite strength for golfing surfaces by such means ascooking, steaming, chemical shrinking with strong acid or alkali, byimpact in the fulling mill and by pressing. All of these methods removethe life and resilience fromthel felt. In supplying a device for thepractice Y of a pastime or an amusement, practical considerations arenot as important in determining the usefulness `of the device'asconsiderations of pleasantness and appealingness to the player. Apparentminor differences in the nature of the felt employed constitute thecause of profound differences in attractiveness and consequentlyusefulness from the standpoint of the miniature golf player.

My invention consists partly in the discovery of a felt never usedbefore for the purpose, which is profoundly different from other feltsin that it is highly attractive and, therefore, highly useful from thestandpoint of the miniature golf player.

My invention provides a playing surface closely simulating a closelyclipped lawn surface in that the fibers in the surface havepreponderantly vertically directional'components simulating the more orless vertical extensions of blades ofgrass. This feature of my inventionI do not consider as beingv entirely novel because felts in which thefibers are normally mainly horizontal have beenv made with a surface ofprotruding fibers by drawing up la vsomewhat temporary nap. It is mybelief, however, that prior to my .invention no felt with fiberspreponderantly vertical throughout, so that wearV has no effect on thesurface exposed, have been used for miniature golfing surfaces. It isalso my belief that no felt has been used prior to my invention for saidpurpose which provides the marked pleasant liveliness` resilience andspringiness underfoot and which supports and retards a rolling golf ballas my invention does.

However, in spite of the many advantageous properties of felt of theright sort, certain objections to its use, attributable to the manner oflaying, have prevented this felt from being a highly satisfactorysurfacing material for miniature golf courses. The foundations used forthe old forms of felt, prior to my invention, were of tightly packedsoil or relatively impervious layers of concrete or of lumber. Thefoundations made of soil are unsatisfactory, for the impressions of footmarks are too easily communicated through the felt when the soil supportis softened by the rain. The concrete foundation used prior to myinvention, being relatively impervious to water, holds rain water in thefelt for an unreasonably long time. The water so held rots the fibers ofthe felt and in addition makes the surface, due to its sogginess, unfitfor play for long periods after a shower. Lumber foundations provevunsatisfactory due to. warping, poor drainage, lack of durability andbecause of an unnatural hollow feeling under foot.

My invention comprises also a free draining, rigid, solid, uniformfoundation for a suitable layer of resilient, wear-resisting felt. Themounting of the feltupon the proper foundation permits free drainage andyet holds the shape of the felt.

In the drawings Fig. 1 represents a vertical sectional view of arepresentative playing surface formed according to my method;

Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through a composite playing surfacerepresenting various forms of my invention;

Fig. 3 is a magnified section of the upper layerused in my invention; y

Fig. 4 is a magnified section of another form of the same;

Fig. 5 is also a magnified section of still another form of thesame.

The portion shown in Fig. l bearing the numeral 1 representsWell-drained soil upon whichv the course is built. The soil is drainednaturally or by any suitable means, such as drain 6. Upon the soil isplaced layer 2 vof broken stone or gravel, preferably of sizes that willbe retained between quarter inch and two inch screens, although largeror smaller pieces may be used. Layer 2 is tamped or rolled firmly intoplace. This layer is preferably formed to have a depth of about fiveinches although layers as thin as one inch, or as thick as several feetin some cases will serve the purpose. Directly on to layer 2 is thenpoured a layer 3 of porous concrete, preferably three inches thick,although any thickness to give the requisite strength will serve. Theporous concrete is compounded of' a mixturey containing about eightparts by volume of coarse crushed stone having a mean diameter ofthreequarters of an inch and a shape factor of about 1.5, one part byvolume of Portland cement and sufficient water to give the properconsistency. The porous concrete may also be compounded with cinders inthe place of crushedv stone, the proportions of the mixture beingroughly eight parts of cinders to one part of Portland cement by volumewith sufficient water to give the proper consistency.

Another material which I have found to be serviceable for layer 8 isbubble concrete in which gases released in the concrete before settinggive a porous nature to the concrete.

When layer 3 has set and is dry enough, asphalt adhesive or otheradhesive not soluble in water and adherent to concrete and felt isapplied to the surface of the concrete in discontinuous patches, asshown in layer 4 in Fig. 1. The adhesive is applied in discontinuouspatches to maintain free drainage through the porous concrete. The layerof felt 5 is then rolled or pressed into place before the adhesivehardens. The margins of the felt may be secured by continuous strips ofthe adhesive applied to the concrete in the proper place or the marginsof the felt may be secured by strips of metal, fibrecomposition or woodapplied over the felt with securing means, attached to the strips,passing through the felt into the concrete. The use of the adhesive maybe omitted entirely, the felt being tacked, as shown in Fig. 2, numeral12, screwed, numeral 7, or nailed, numeral 8, to wooden or otherinserts, numeral 9, cast in the concrete when layer 3, Fig. 1, ispoured, or the felt may be tacked or nailed to the concrete itselfbefore the concrete has set,- as shown in Fig. 2, numeral 10. Thenatural laying properties of the felt may even be relied upon to keep itin place with or without the help of the points cast in the concrete,shown in Fig. 2, numeral 11. I have also found that if the felt is laidbefore the surface of the concrete hardens fair adhesion will obtain.

Felts naturally colored or dyed or sprayed may be used to obtain anyparticular surface desired. However, I have found most suitable for thepurpose felts made by the punching process, from relatively short andsomewhat stiff animal bers, jute, sisal or other vegetable fibers,separately or mixed, with or without a contained layer of strongerfabric or fiber and with or without a color applied to the felt or thefiber by dying or spraying. I express my preference for punched feltover other felts because the punching process for making felt gives aproduct more suitable for my purpose. The matting or knitting action ofthe transversely travelling needles in a punching loom intertwine andweave the fibers so that a considerable proportion of them protrudeatirregular angles more or less vertical when theV felt is laid. Theseirregularly vertical fibers assist materially in the simulation of alawn surface. Such felt supports and retards a rolling ball in a verynatural manner and is pleasing to the player and durable.

fibers on account `of the factthat the animal Y fibers d'onot break downand vdeteriorate under use, as Vdo certain types of vegetable 'f bers,although a fairly satisfactoryproduct can be made of certain vegetablefibers. After passingthrough theloom or punching machine the felt ispreferably sprayed with a Ysuitable lacquer or paint, or dye, whichserves the double purpose of coloring the product toconform Ytothevnatural surroundings and also adds a certain waterproof value. Thisvspraying is done by means of a specially constructed nozzle or by anyof the standard spraying equipment commonly known to the art. Afterpassing under the spray the product may be dried naturally or throughspecially constructed can driers, or specially constructed driers usingfans which pull thefair through the product.

Reference to the accompanying drawings, Figs. 3, 11 and 5 will revealthat my product is a felt with intertwined fibers, indicated by thenumeral 13, with or without contained layer or layers of fabric orstronger fiber 14, the directional components of said fibers 13 beingpreponderantly vertical.

Thus Vmy product vdiffers `from the old, hard, lifeless golf surfacefelts in which a vertical nap had to be produced by artificial means, inthat the bers are inherently vertical and wear and use will neitherimpair nor destroy the properties of thev felt for golfing purposesuntil the material isI nearly consumed by wear. The felt has greatspringiness and life because the fibers have not been shrunken andpounded until horizontal in a fulling process and are not horizontallymatted by a pressing or' laying process. Y

A playing surface made according to my invention comprises a combinationof felt, preferably punched felt, with a perviousV foundation and meansfor attaching the felt whereby a highly practical andnearly idealplaying surface is formed. The surface is resilient, lively, yieldingyet firm, and supports and carries a rolling ball in the desired manner;it is resistant to the weather and dries and drains quickly; it isdurable, easily cleaned, generally attractive and stands intensive wear.While I have described above completely and fully one or two forms whichmy invention may assume,

I do not intend that my invention be limited to any particular form,b-ut that it should be limited'to those forms which lie within Y thescope ofthe appended claims.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new and wish tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. A playing surface of the character described comprising a felt layer,a layer of iso pervious concrete supporting said felt, a non-continuouslayer of non-Water-soluble adhesive between said felt and said concrete,and a bedding of coarse gravel or broken stone supporting said concrete.

2. A playing surface of the Character described comprising a surfacelayer of animal hair felt, having a substantial amount of the fibersthereof ina nearly vertical position, a backing layer of perviousconcrete, and a non-continuous layer of a nonwater-so1ub1e,cementtherebetween.

In testimony whereof, I aix my signature.

LEWIS H. STEVARD.

